Page 17 of Hard Candy Christmas

He slowly lifted a brow, his eyes raking over me as I sat on the floor.

“Are you asking to see them?”

“I mean, I was just wondering. Didn’t have to show me.”

“I got a few after you left. Haven’t really gotten anything in years though. Ones on the ribcage, the other on my chest.”

“Can I see them?”

Oh. My. God.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

“Depends?”

“Depends on what, Chase?”

I watched in fascination as he pulled the strand of lights taunt, as if it were a belt in his hands.

“Depends on if Santa needs to put you on his nice list, or his naughty list.”

I don’t think I’ve ever been so unsure of what each list would entail.

“What happens on Santa’s nice list?”

“Hmm, well, you’ll get the show of the tattoos. But then I’ll just put my shirt back on and we can finish.”

Not a bad idea. I still get to see a chest that I’m sure looks about twenty times better than I could recall.

“And what happens on the naughty list?”

“On the naughty list,” he said, working the lights around his arm, flexing it, and making my mouth water with the veins popping out.

Yes, please, to forearm porn!

“Go on,” I whispered, licking my lips.

“You get to see the tattoos up close and personal. Because you’ll be under me, with the lights around you, as I push into your center over and over.”

That one! I wanted to be on the naughty list.

“And how did I get on…the…uh…the…ni…naughty…list?”

He grinned as he walked over, crouching down right in front of me.

“You have to show me you’re just as naughty to get something like that.”

Oh, he wanted to play that game. He wasn’t the only one who’s changed over the years.

“Not a problem.” I pushed him, making him fall on his back and took the blue and silver garland in my hand, tying it around his hands then tying it around the leg of the chair that was next to us. “I tend to like my men at my mercy.” With that, I ripped his shirt open, admiring the view of a strong chest with its small smattering amount of hair and the ink sprawled over it.

God, he was a gorgeous man.

Without thought, I leaned down, pressing my lips to his. He had turned me on with his words. Honestly, words I never thought I’d hear him say again.

And if we were taking that honest road, after the few weeks of his temperament, I could have sworn he didn’t even see me that way.

But now, now I may be questioning it.

---